Google partners with Chrysler to out self-driving minivans

Google’s road to releasing self-driving cars has been bumpy, to say the least. But that isn’t stopping them from developing the technology. Google is now collaborating with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to put their technology into Fiat Chrysler minivans. According to Google: “FCA will design the minivans so it’s easy for us to install our self-driving systems, including the computers that hold our self-driving software, and the sensors that enable our software to see what’s on the road around the vehicle. The minivan design also gives us an opportunity to test a larger vehicle that could be easier for passengers to enter and exit, particularly with features like hands-free sliding doors.”

Don’t expect this to be available on showroom floors just yet though even if they plan to test it out on roads by the end of the year. At the moment, this just helps Chrysler leverage Google’s tech and Google find out how to integrate its technologies into the assembly line for future release of autonomous cars, or in this case minivans.

Source: Google | Via: The Next Web

Google logged about 50 self-driving cars hit the road in October

Google is steadily making progress with it self-driving car program, which is running in California and Austin, Texas. A recently released report shows that the company had a total of 48 cars running the roads of both areas. There are 23 Lexus RX450h SUVs self-driving in public streets—19 of them are in Mountain View and four are in Austin. There are also 25 prototype cars self-driving public streets—21 of them in Mountain View and four in Austin. The cars can run in Autonomous and Manual modes. Cars driving in Autonomous mode average around 10,000 to 15,000 miles per week these days. It has logged a total of 1,268,108 miles in Autonomous mode since the project began in 2009.

Google has also started testing the self-driving cars around small children. It requires more care due to unpredictability but tests like these do help in the development of truly autonomous vehicles.

Source: Google [PDF] | Via: The Next Web

Google gets TrueCar president as new head of self-driving cars division

Google’s showing how serious they are about their self-driving initiative as they announce the new head of the division. TrueCar’s President John Krafcik will be joining Google starting September 15^th as the CEO of the aforementioned division. Krafcik has been with the automotive pricing and information website for the past year and a half and will still remain as a member of the company’s board. Krafcik has been in the auto industry for a while. He started out at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., a then-joint venture between GM and Toyota. And he has worked for both Ford and Hyundai as well.

Google spokesperson Kara Berman told the LA Times, “We’re investing in building out a team that can help us bring this technology to its full potential in the coming years. John’s combination of technical expertise and auto industry experience will be particularly valuable as we collaborate with many different partners to achieve our goal of transforming mobility for millions of people.”

Source: LA Times | Via: SlashGear

Google will release monthly report cards for self-driving cars

Google wants the public and its shareholders to continue supporting “moonshot” projects by being transparent about them. One such example is releasing a monthly report card for their self-driving cars. The May 2015 release covers 12 accidents that the fleet has been involved in in the past six years. The latest crash took place last week when an autonomous prototype Lexus SUV was rear-ended at around 1mph by another car. No injuries were reported from both sides though and the self-driving car wasn’t at fault. Actually, only one out of the 12 accidents were caused by the driver operating the Google car and he was doing it manually as well as it drove back into another vehicle.

This report will also show how Google can expound more on self-driving technology, such as how the system can identify a passing emergency vehicle at a junction and will remain at a halt even though their lane is the one in favor to move.

Source: Google Monthly Reports | Via: SlashGear